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The Spam Scam
As the section above mentioned briefly, there are plenty of spam scams going on out there. These are spam emails that come to you and request money or donations to various charities and such.
These types of spam are illegal. Real charities only use their client contact lists when asking for donations. Spammers will do anything in their power to get you to part with your money. Some of them even offer viable products or services, the catch is that the links to these products or services are rarely usable. Here is a list of some of the spam scams that will ask you for money.
Asking for Charitable Donations
Some even have viable sounding names like the American Hearts Association. (There is no such company) They are relying on the fact that you have heard of the American Heart Association and they have simply pluralized it. It is a really good cover because they know that everyone has heard of the American Heart Association and just changing it a bit causes no real difference to the sound of it, so you are more likely to give up your money.
You really have to watch out for slight name changes like these because these are the scams that are harder to catch. Of course there is one way to know if your email donation request is real. REAL CHARITIES DONT SEND MASS EMAILS!
Dont get me wrong legitimate charities do advertise on the internet, but they do it on their website alone and generally offer their charity number and a phone number that you can call as well. Be careful on receiving these. If you know that you are a bleeding heart, just dont open them.
Sometimes spammers will get your attention by making the email look like it has been forwarded to you. This is silly really, but it often works because the recipient believes that the email is from a friend or family member. Dont be fooled by the forwarded email. Not all of them are from your friends.
Making Money Scams
Spammers also have a nice running scam that promises you the chance to make some money. These can offer you things like legitimate sounding jobs, and products. Some of them even have the nerve to ask you in the email itself for your credit card numbers etc.
Internet Survey Jobs
These are just telling you that you can make some money by filling out surveys online. Of course they never tell you that you have to pay a certain amount of money in order to get a list of the legitimate companies that will pay you. Before they even give you that amount of information, you are asked to fill out a registration form, and then your emails from these people will never stop.
Online Typing Jobs
This offers you the chance to type files etc. and receive payment per word or page. Some even offer to pay you by the hour. Ask yourself this; how will they know how long youve been online?
Get Paid To Surf
Everyone has heard of the emails that offer you to get paid just to surf the internet. According to them, you can get paid to go to any website that you want. What they dont tell you is that you have to allow your computer to be hacked into first.
Payday Cash Advances
These are extremely annoying because everyone seems to get these spam scams on a daily basis. These offer to let you receive a payday advance through your email. All they ask is that you give them your banking information like your account numbers etc. I cant imagine anybody being stupid enough to give that information, but many still do. These mails tell you that they need this information so that they can send you your money and also get theirs back later. (Lets just see if you have any money once they are finished)
Some of these warnings may sound repetitive to you, but they are mentioned for a reason. Each and every piece of spam that is sent to your inbox is there to entice you into buying something, or tricks to hack into you computer. They are worth mentioning more than once. You can never be too careful and the deeper you can imbed these ideas into your head the better. |
